Not the "Jersey Shore", a North Wildwood Vacation - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Thanks for coming along. This is only my second trip report so I'm just still discovering wall the possibilities of these forums.
If you’d like to see my first TR, check it out http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ed-7-26-a.html. It was a long weekend trip to LancasterPA and a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine and a visit to Dutch Wonderland theme park.
Now on with this report...
I'm about one month away from my annual trip “down the shore” and I debated on even writing a trip report. The reason being is that our days are not very exciting but then I thought "what the heck, why not?". We usually have a few days of something special, so without further delay…
Who: Me - Mommy - Holly
DS3 - Evan almost 4
DM - Grandmom-Janet
DN - Eric - almost 5
DK9 - that's dog to you and me - Wrigley
various other characters will be in and out during the week
When: Labor Day weekend and the week following
Where: North Wildwood, NJ
Staying for free in sister's townhouse.
Reason: just to relax and have some fun in the sun
So here's the deal...
My sister and her husband own a vacation home in North Wildwood NJ. It has 4 bedrooms and we use it every year, and a few weekends through out the year. She and her family go down the final week of the summer. They stay the week of Labor Day and for the past 3 years I have gone down the week after Labor Day. Since my son Evan is not in school yet we go down that second week in September and it is just gorgeous. The weather is great, the water is warm and the crowds are all gone.
Usually it is myself, my mom, Evan and my sister’s son (my nephew) Eric. Eric is an entire year older than Evan so this will be his last year coming down with us as he will be in kindergarten next year.
Last Christmas I had to put down one of my dogs (the one with separation anxiety). She was never able to come to the shore with us. This year, however, I just have one dog and he is very good in new places so Wrigley will be joining us for the week as well – woo hoo , saves me the kennel costs. Also we generally cook all our meals at the house and since we don’t have to pay for the house rental, it is a very inexpensive vacation.
As always, we are not quite sure what day of the LD weekend we will be heading to Wildwood. My brother-in-law’s family usually comes for a few days during “their” week. We don’t want to have too many people there or kick someone out of a room or intrude on their family vacation so we are still up in the air as to if we are going down Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday or even Tuesday morning. I’m hoping we can decide all those details within the next two weeks and not have everything completely last minute.
I suppose after that decision the next thing is planning menus and going grocery shopping. I’ll need to pack, clean the house, groom the dog, go to the bank and check how many tickets to the amusement pier I have and possibly order more. I still have some tram car tickets from Santa so we are all set on that.
Evan loves the tram car and we usually ride it at least one afternoon, just as a ride. Last year we took a ride on a Monster Truck on the beach and Evan has talked about it all year so I’m sure we will be trying that. Of course last year he was bounced around but he wants to ride this year. Oh and the go-karts that is on his list as well.
I guess that is it for now. I’ll be updating as things come up and as we get closer.
Coming up next: The reason behind the title of the report
I grew up going to Wildwood every summer with my friends´family. You´re bringing back lots of memories for me!!!! I always take my kids to Ocean City, NJ, but I haven´t taken them to Wildwood yet.
More pls!!!!!
Great pretrip report. We use to always stay in North Wildwood until the Disney bug bit me. We use to stay at a hotel at 23rd & Surf but that is gone now. We decided to go cheap this year and skip WDW so we will be down in Wildwood from August 22 - 27. Hope your vacation is super fun.
So last night I was motivated and pulled my Moery’s Pier card out of my lock box so I could check the balance online today. I have one card with one ticket left, one card with 5 tickets left and one full card with 70 tickets. I was able to reload the 5 ticket card with $50.00 and 65 more tickets. Since most of the rides Evan and Eric want to do are 3 to 4 tickets we should be good.
I’m trying to straighten up and clean my house. I still have groceries to unload from the weekend. Evan slept over my sister’s on Saturday night so I went to the Supermarket at 10pm (like the per-kid days of old) by the time I got home, unloaded the car and then put all the freezer/refrigerator things away is was 1am and I was exhausted. I haven’t been home for any length of time since then so hopefully tonight I can finally get those items put away.
Tonight is my TV watching night, Ghost Hunters and Top Chef. I usually jump up each commercial break and get a few things done (fold a load laundry, unpack groceries, clean bathroom, etc…) I’m actually amazed at how much work I can get done during commercial breaks. All those little jobs that take about 5 minutes of less, like unload the dishwasher, you can get about 5 or 6 or those done during one show.
Oh yea, I got side tracked and was going to talk about the reason for the name of this report. Alright let me get out my soap box.
When that MTV show JerseyShore came out, let me just say, it really annoyed me. I’ve never even seen it and it annoys me. I’m just so sick and tired of the country dumping on NJ. First of all, all these shows – Housewives, Jersey Shore, Jersey Couture, Jerseylicious are all North Jersey (I live in South Jersey and it is at times like a different state). And no offense to North Jersey people because I’m sure you are felling it too. - WE ARE NOT ALL LIKE THAT. As a matter of fact I don’t know anyone like that and I’m really sick of it. I live in a very nice area where people aren’t hungry for their own reality TV show. They are not whiney or bitchy or back stabbing, and they dress like normal people, not hoochie mommas.
OK I’ll get off my soap box and continue on…
So when I decided to do this trip report I wanted to be able to show people that the JerseyShore is not what is shown on TV (a bunch of horny, drunk people) but a family friendly place that people have been coming to for years and where vacations and memories can be shared. I hope I can eventually relay that message and feeling to you all.
I hear you about the New Jersey jokes - even this Brit knows about those. I remember hearing once that it's you guys and California that tend to get singled out for jokes. It's sometimes hard to be on the receiving end of it and it can get to you.
So I made some purchases for our week at the shore. I got this nice dual monitor portable DVD player which can mount to the car seat. The drive down is about 90 minutes to 2 hours depending on traffic. This should keep Evan happy (and Mommy too).
I also figured he could use it next year on our plane ride to Disney.
I also purchased 2 toys for the boy to use while we are at the house.
I think they will really like the race track and if it rains this should keep them busy.
We are planning some menus tonight and hopefully figuring out if my sister's older kids will be with us for a few days. My sister is a principle and her school starts before her kids.
Stay tuned for more stuff as the date gets closer.
Oh, I just remembered I need to schedule a grooming appointment for Wrigley before we leave.
I did decide I'm going down on Sunday 9/5 so only 19 days to go.
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Looking forward to hearing all about it - I used to vacation at the beach in Jersey - at Long Beach Island, though I've been to Wildwood a few times, too. Sounds like great preparations so far!!
Have a great time! When I was young we would go to Ocean City or Wildwood every summer. I still love it there! Mmmmmmmm Mack & Manco pizza and The Fudge Kitchen so yummy
So when I decided to do this trip report I wanted to be able to show people that the JerseyShore is not what is shown on TV (a bunch of horny, drunk people) but a family friendly place that people have been coming to for years and where vacations and memories can be shared. I hope I can eventually relay that message and feeling to you all.
I am so glad you wrote this. It is my feelings exactly. New Jersey is a beautiful state with gorgeous beaches and beautiful mountains and lakes. Hence the name - Garden State! The people shown on those shows do not represent any NJ resident that I know and truthfully are an insult in my opinion. I just hate the jokes made about NJ and the oil refineries when it is probably a half a mile stretch on the NJ Turnpike and that is it! Anyone who has visited the Jersey Shore knows these shows are not representative of NJ residents. OK I said my piece too!
I've never watched the show but I know from growing up in the state right next to NJ that the people on that show aren't a good representation of the actual people from NJ. I use to go down the shore all the time but then I got bit by the Disney bug but I will be heading to Wildwood for a week on Sunday and even though you find a few trashy people on the boardwalk it's really a great place to be.
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in sister's townhouse.
, saves me the kennel costs. Also we generally cook all our meals at the house and since we don’t have to pay for the house rental, it is a very inexpensive vacation.
Holly: 
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I remember hearing once that it's you guys and California that tend to get singled out for jokes. It's sometimes hard to be on the receiving end of it and it can get to you. 
Sounds like great preparations so far!!
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